~ politics for the people

The glaring omission in columnist’s plea to new DWP chief

The test of Theresa May’s government will be whether it delivers social justice or just talks about it. The power is in Damian Green’s hands, according to the Mirror.

Ros Wynne-Jones of the Daily Mirror has done excellent work highlighting the injustices wreaked on the poor people of the UK by an uncaring Conservative (and before that, Conservative-led) government – so This Writer tends to believe the omission was unintentional.

It is this, as fellow campaigner for the rights of people with sickness and disabilities, Samuel Miller, tweeted:

“Ros Wynne-Jones’ open letter to Damian Green fails to request the rescinding of next year’s ESA (WRAG) cuts, which threatens the lives of half a million sick and disabled people.”

Well, Mr Green? How about it? After all, you don’t have to work towards a budget surplus by 2020 any more.

You could change the path of reforms on Universal Credit to make them fair and humane. You could stop the cruel madness of the bedroom tax and cuts to Employment Support Allowance. You could end the monstrously immoral current scenario where more money goes to the fat-cat private companies running DWP contracts to take money off poor and disabled people than the amount of savings to the benefit bill. You could stop the pointless waste of life – and loss of life – caused by poor fit-for-work decisions.

And the good news is: Universal Credit’s completion date has slipped yet again to 2022, meaning that the cuts pencilled in by Osborne Tax Credit-wise won’t rob many thousands of families of thousands of pounds as quickly as expected.